Thunder Bay Chapter Five
Chapter Five As time went on, Albert became far more secure in the family. It had become his home for good. It was a nice change, he realized, to be noticed for his good things and his good qualities, as opposed to being kicked, tormented, clobbered every time he'd turned around, and treated like less than a second-class citizen by his own mother. He looked a lot nicer than when he had first appeared, he dressed with a lot of care and style (he preferred a classic, preppy style, modeled after his beloved older brother, Chris, who had always dressed in that style), and was also able to start attending school at Port Arthur High, with his beloved sisters. Kimberly and Sybille made the most of him, always including him in their time together, helping him feel secure. Kimberly's boyfriend, Malcolm Anderson, also took to him, and could well be very protective of him. An example of that was when a snide girl named Dixie Bancroft decided to make life a misery for him. Malcolm came up and told her boyfriend, Troy Burrison, a guy who had been shunned by Kimberly, to have her leave Albert alone, or else she would be demolished by gossip. Troy, who, unlike his snobbish mother, was a very kind person, and didn't like Dixie (She loved him, he obviously did not) or her treacherous bullying, ordered her to leave Albert alone, or else she would be made a complete pariah throughout the school. Dixie, disgusted by Troy's pronouncements, dropped him altogether, and went out with a much MORE snobbish person named Peter Henderson. They ruled the school (so they thought), until word slipped out about Dixie's less-than-sterling reputation. It was revealed by someone on the football team that Dixie was known for having slept with every wealthy guy in Port Arthur and hoped to make a smash for herself in Nipigon, but it was not meant to be. The gossip demolished her and she was in fact made a pariah, being called Dixie the Slut! (During the course of the time that Albert got himself used to his new life and the situation he was now a part of, The Stauntons, Salisburys and Charbonneaus all merged into one large extended family. They worked it with the legal authorities, and it was a lovely arrangement.) Sybille, sometimes called Syb by her family and closest friends, in fact, had introduced a friend of Malcolm's, Tyler Wilkes, to Albert. The two guys just clicked right off and were considered the yin and yang of their group. They were instantly close friends. Tyler, an avid skater, had long blond hair and handsome blue eyes. He was thin and lanky, as he was a skater, but he had a lovely attitude and was such a free-spirit. Albert, more buttoned down and preppy, Tyler, more free-spirited and flighty, and yet the two completed one another. Albert helped Tyler to become a bit more stable and focused, and Tyler helped Albert to be able to let loose a little bit. In his short amount of time at the school, his grades were really quite exceptional, given his eagerness to set to work, which was something that his mother had never taken a blind bit of notice of. He even made the honor roll in his whole time at school. However, something wicked, this way came! A pretentious-looking Lexus drove up to the Staunton's circular drive. Two horridly wicked women were in the car, both looking supremely smug. The passenger, a haughty smirk on her face, sauntered out. It was a stunner when the nasty Nora Harrison showed her face at the Staunton House. With her was Constance, who wasn't really supposed to be in the area at all, because of the court's all-encompassing restraining order against her. "What are YOU doing here, Mrs. Harrison?" Celeste Finneran, the combined family's head maid/housekeeper, stated coldly, as she opened the door, "you are not allowed on this property!" "I've come here to see me son," she scoffed at her, looking down her nose at her as Constance had taught her to do. "Well, you're sore out of luck, lady!" Celeste snapped, refusing to be intimidated by the snobby woman, "Not that it's any of your business, but he's not at home! He's at school with his sisters. And don't try to intimidate me, madam! It won't wash! Besides, you and that Constance Salisbury aren't welcome in this house. You're deliberately breaking the restraining order by having her with you!" "That family took ME son away from me!" Nora screamed. "Oh, give over! The family did no such thing, no matter how much you think otherwise and the lies that Constance Salisbury tell you about them. You deserted him on the streets in the pouring rain," Celeste shot back, "so, that meant you surrendered your rights!" "How dare you, a mere servant, argue semantics with someone who is your better?!" Nora sniffed haughtily as if she had been smelling a terrible stench. "You're far from being my better, Lady Muck," Celeste snapped ferociously, "and you never will be my better!" Jim came out at the sound of the din, as did Elspeth. "What are YOU doing here, madam?" Elspeth snapped, "and I see that no-good daughter of mine is with you. How did SHE get out of jail?" "My lawyer got her out," Nora smiled smugly, "and she's living with me and my son now! We're working together in helping me get my son back." "What lawyer?! No respectable lawyer in their right minds would even DEIGN to represent YOU! You've got no chance in hell! And anyway, I don't see how you getting Albert back is going to happen," Jim said coldly, "not with all the evidence that's been laid bare against you! YOU basically abandoned him on the cold streets of a city he doesn't know. YOU were the one who threw him out of the car, and then left him out in the pouring rain and sleet in a paper-thin jacket that wasn't even REMOTELY warm, while you spoil your selfish younger son! Not to mention, the Provincial Police threw you out of the province and you're not even allowed in Thunder Bay. So, what in the HELL makes you think you are ever going to get that boy back?" "Because I am his mother, isn't that reason enough?!" Nora screamed, angrily, "Besides what would YOU know?! You, a high and mighty city councilman, ought to know better than to keep a child from his mother!" "Not if the mother is unfit like YOU are," Jim stormed, seeing through the brazen lie, "Haven't you heard? Times have changed and kids just don't automatically go to the mother anymore. When a mother's unfitness is proven, as yours have been proven by your actions, sometimes, the father gets full custody of the children. But where is HIS father, eh?" "How dare you call me unfit!" Nora screamed, "I am a fantastic mother! And who cares about his father?! I am all the parent he needs." "Oh, really?" a male voice sounded. Nora's eyes widened in shock and her face drained of color. "And just where did you come up with THAT load of hogwash, sister dear?! You're no lawyer, far from it!" "Andrew!" Nora sputtered, "I might have known YOU'D have been in back of all this!" "You're damned right I am in back of this, Nora! I am only thinking of Albert, God knows YOU never did! You've always been trouble, Nora, ever since you were born, why else would Mother have gotten on you as she did?!" her brother snapped at her, "And you're worse than Mother was, FAR worse! You've been awful from the moment Albert was born. It seemed that you never gave a toss about him!" "What did she do to him, Andrew?" Elspeth asked, enjoying the look of pure fury on Nora's face as her lies are being demolished one by one. "What wouldn't she do, more like, Mrs. Salisbury! When he was just an infant, she would ignore him for hours on end," Andrew said scathingly, glaring at his sister, "he would cry for hours and she never fed him, never changed his diapers, that was usually left to me or her ex-husband, in short, she never took a blind bit of notice of him at all! She would usually be gabbing on the phone, or watch TV, or sleeping the whole day away, lazy cow, and left him to rot in smelly diapers! Mother would change him at times, and so would I and so would his father. When he was younger, she would hit him whenever the whim hit her and usually for petty reasons, or because she wanted to. Poor kid was a prisoner, since by this time, his father had passed away! YET, when the younger, the child born from her current boyfriend, was born, she then chose to ignore Albert altogether and focused on her precious youngest! The only time she even REMOTELY paid any attention to him was to scream at him or knock him about." Nora's face turned white as a sheet. She squirmed as Jim and Elspeth glared hard at her. Her crimes were exposed, and there was no way out for her, and she knew it! "You're a horrid little cow, Nora Harrison," Elspeth spat, "Albert's all the better to be rid of you!" "I don't give a damn what any of you dolts think of me," Nora snapped defiantly, "I am still his mother!" "The very moment that you threw him out of that car and left him in the streets to get drenched in that rain," Andrew seethed, "you abrogated those rights! You have NO claim on that boy!" "Oh, just go and leave," Elspeth snapped, "that shouldn't be so hard, given you walked out on Albert so easily!" "Andrew, by the way, could you see to it and have Constance promptly arrested?" Jim asked, kindly, "It's clear that she's broken the restraining order." "With pleasure," Andrew said, "and you, Nora, are also under arrest, for aiding and abetting a fugitive!" "How dare you?!" Nora snapped, "I am your sister!" "Not anymore you're not," Andrew spat, "I have no sister anymore. You're no sister to me, in fact, you're dead to me!" He handcuffed a screaming Nora, while Jim called the police. The other officer arrived Not too long after the call, and she arrested Constance and had their car removed from the premises. Fortunately, Albert had not known anything about it, as he had been in school. After all that, Elspeth had Andrew move into the mansion as it was helpful for Albert to have his uncle with him. "You won't get away with this," Nora screamed, "I'll have your job for this!" "Give it a rest," Andrew snapped, completely fed up with Nora and her lies, "you have no rights to be around here. Neither does your stuck up snob of a friend. You'll not get my job, lady, you've no call to do that! And I am NOT going to let you upset Albert. Not now, not EVER. You've done it all the time you had him, and I am not going to allow you to do that to him anymore. Albert is entitled to have some happiness, and I'm going to see to it that he gets it! He doesn't need you. He's got his new family, and he's got me! What else does that boy need?! God knows you've never let him have anything!" Nora sneered at him. "We're not done!" she spat. "Oh, yes, you are, Mrs. Harrison!" Jim said, "Both you and Constance are finished, make no mistake on that one. This stupid farce is ending right here and right now! We're making sure you and that bitch of an ex-wife of mine are locked out from this house and this family! You're both slated for a very long stint in jail! You're finished here in this town. Get out of my sight, I don't want to see either one of your ugly faces around my family ever again!" Nora and Constance looked at one another and they threw them the finger. The lady cop drove the two fugitives off and headed back to the Police Station. By the time the car was gone, Albert, Sybille and Kimberly were back home. "Uncle Andrew?" Albert asked worriedly, "Is everything ok? I have a feeling the old war-horse was here." "She was," Andrew said, hugging his nephew close, "but we all told her a few home truths and she was arrested along with that wretched Constance." "She has her nerve," Kimberly said, "at least he's safe." "Oui," Sybille said, "Our Albert's safe from that horrid woman." "They will be locked away for a very long time," Andrew said. "Thank heavens," Elspeth said, "how was your day, kids?" "Wonderful," Albert smiled, "It was a good day." A few minutes later, Christopher and Stefan came in from work. Albert felt his big brother's gentle arms holding him close. Christopher and Albert had a special bond which stemmed from the night he had been deserted in Thunder Bay. The week he had the flu, Christopher sat with him all the time. "Good to see you, kiddo," Christopher said, holding his brother close, "is everything ok?" "The old witch came over," Albert said, "her and your mother. Both of them were swiftly arrested and sent back to jail for what they did." "That's good," Christopher said, brushing his little brother's hair out of his eyes, "she doesn't have any rights to be around here and harassing you. God knows, she's done it enough to you, and you don't need it anymore." "Good! They need to stay away from here," Stefan said, "And they shall, if there is any justice!" "They'll not get out of jail for this," Christopher said, "you're making sure of that, right, Andrew?" "Absolutely, Chris," Andrew reassured the guys, "Albert is safe and is where he belongs. And he will remain here for good! They have NO claim on him whatsoever." With that, the family, with Andrew now firmly into the family fold, went to their dinner, and it was a lovely affair. Category:Thunder Bay Episodes